Privacy Policy - Gardeners St Giles

This Privacy Policy explains how Gardeners St Giles collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data for all customers in the St Giles area. It applies to every customer, enquiry, and service arrangement handled by Gardeners St Giles in this area, whether the interaction is online, by phone, in writing, or in person. We are committed to handling personal data in a lawful, fair, and transparent way, in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

By using our services, you acknowledge that your personal information may be processed as described in this policy. We take data protection seriously and aim to use only the information necessary to provide our services, manage our relationship with you, meet our legal obligations, and improve the quality of our work.

1. Information We Collect

Gardeners St Giles may collect and process different types of personal data depending on the nature of your enquiry or service request. The information we collect is limited to what is relevant and necessary for our business purposes.

Types of personal data

Identity details such as your name and title.
Contact details such as address, telephone number, and email address.
Service information such as the type of gardening work requested, property access notes, scheduling preferences, and service history.
Communication records including emails, messages, notes from phone calls, and written correspondence.
Billing and payment data where relevant for invoicing, payment processing, and accounting.
Technical data if you interact with our digital systems, such as basic device or usage information collected through standard security or performance tools.
Special category data only if you voluntarily provide it and only where strictly necessary, for example if access needs or health-related considerations affect service delivery.

We do not intentionally collect more information than we need. If you choose not to provide certain data, we may not be able to deliver some services properly or respond fully to your request.

2. How We Use Personal Data

We use personal data for specific, legitimate purposes connected to our gardening services and business operations. These purposes include:

responding to enquiries and providing quotations;
arranging and delivering gardening services;
managing bookings, schedules, and site access;
issuing invoices and handling payments;
keeping records of services provided;
communicating about changes, updates, or service issues;
meeting legal, accounting, and insurance obligations;
maintaining the safety and security of staff, customers, and property;
improving our processes, service quality, and customer experience.

We will only use your data for the reasons explained in this policy or for purposes that are compatible with those reasons. Where required, we will ask for your consent before using your information in a way that is not covered by another lawful basis.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis for each type of processing activity. Gardeners St Giles relies on the following lawful bases where appropriate:

Contract

We process personal data when it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes preparing quotations, booking services, carrying out work, and managing payments.

Legal obligation

We process information where we are required to do so by law, such as for tax records, accounting, insurance, or other regulatory requirements.

Legitimate interests

We may process personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This may include managing customer relationships, maintaining records, protecting our business, and improving services.

Consent

We may rely on your consent in limited situations, such as where you voluntarily provide special category data or agree to specific communications that are not necessary for service delivery. If we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

Vital interests

In very rare situations, we may process information to protect someone’s life or physical safety.

4. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including legal, accounting, and reporting requirements. Retention periods vary depending on the type of data and the reason for holding it.

As a general approach:

Customer service records are kept for the period needed to manage the service relationship and handle follow-up queries.
Invoices, payment records, and accounting data are retained for the period required by tax and financial regulations.
Communication records may be stored for a reasonable time to ensure continuity, service quality, and dispute resolution.
Safety, access, and operational notes are kept only as long as necessary for practical service management.

When data is no longer needed, it is securely deleted, anonymised, or otherwise disposed of in a safe and appropriate manner. We review retention needs periodically to make sure we do not keep information longer than necessary.

5. Processors and Data Sharing

Gardeners St Giles may share personal data with trusted third-party service providers, also known as processors, who support our business operations. These processors only act on our instructions and are required to protect your information and use it only for agreed purposes.

Examples of processors may include:

IT and hosting providers that help store or secure business data;
email and communication service providers used for sending messages and managing records;
accounting and bookkeeping providers who assist with invoices and financial administration;
payment processing services where card or electronic payments are handled;
professional advisers such as insurers, auditors, or legal advisers when necessary for business protection and compliance.

We do not sell personal data. We do not share information with unrelated third parties unless there is a lawful reason to do so, such as legal compliance, protection of rights, or delivering the services you have requested. If data is transferred outside the UK or the European Economic Area, we will ensure appropriate safeguards are in place.

6. Data Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, password protection, staff confidentiality expectations, and routine review of data handling practices.

While no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, we take reasonable steps to reduce risks and respond promptly to any suspected data breach. If a breach occurs and it presents a risk to your rights and freedoms, we will act in line with our legal obligations.

7. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. These rights may apply depending on the circumstances and the lawful basis we rely on.

Your rights include:

The right to be informed about how your data is collected and used.
The right of access to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
The right to rectification to ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
The right to erasure in certain cases, also known as the right to be forgotten.
The right to restrict processing where certain conditions apply.
The right to data portability for information you have provided, where processing is based on consent or contract and carried out by automated means.
The right to object to processing based on legitimate interests, and to direct marketing where applicable.
Rights relating to automated decision-making, where such processing is used.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, your request will be considered carefully in accordance with applicable law. In some cases, we may need to verify your identity before responding. We may also retain certain information where required by law or where we have a valid reason to do so.

8. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adult customers and property-related service arrangements. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children unless it is incidental and necessary for a specific service context, and only with appropriate safeguards where required.

9. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in law, our services, or our data handling practices. Any changes will take effect when the updated policy is published or otherwise communicated. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically so they remain informed about how their personal data is used.

10. Summary of Our Commitments

Gardeners St Giles is committed to processing personal data responsibly, securely, and in line with GDPR principles. We collect only the information necessary to provide reliable gardening services, use it only for lawful and justified purposes, keep it only for as long as needed, and work with processors that uphold appropriate data protection standards. Customers in the St Giles area can expect their information to be treated with care, confidentiality, and respect.

This policy is designed to support transparency and trust while ensuring that our data practices remain lawful and proportionate. We aim to balance practical service delivery with strong privacy protections at every stage of the customer relationship.